Tape with a longitudinally extending filament

ABSTRACT

A vehicle is wrapped by a printed adhesive film where the film is also applied over doors and other areas intended not to be covered. The film is cut at the door edge and over the area by adhesively attaching a tape having a release coating on the front surface and carrying a filament along a center of the front side. The printed film is applied over the door, the area not to be covered and the tapes and is cut along the door edge and around the area by pulling the filament from the tape so that a strip of the film at the door edge and the film over the area can be removed. The film can be stretched and pulled away from the tape for reapplying for proper fit.

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 of Provisionalapplication 61/226,947 filed Jul. 20, 2009.

This application is a divisional application of application Ser. No.13/327,042 filed Dec. 15, 2011 which is a divisional application ofapplication Ser. No. 12/580,838 filed Oct. 16, 2009 now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 8,187,407. This application is also related to U.S. Pat. No.7,914,638 issued Mar. 29, 2011.

This invention relates to a tape with a longitudinally extendingfilament.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The tape described herein is particularly but not exclusively designedfor cutting film.

Popular customization of vehicles in some cases involves the applicationof an adhesive film carrying printed graphics to the exterior surface ofthe vehicle. Such a film is readily available for example from 3M and isprovided in large sheets carrying a pressure sensitive adhesive coveredby a release layer allowing the sheet to be printed with the requiredgraphics and applied to the vehicle.

One issue which remains a difficulty is that of cutting the film atrequired locations so that the film terminates at the edge of a panel orat any other required location on the vehicle.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,014,900 issued Mar. 21, 2006 and other related patentsof Langeman provide an arrangement for cutting a polymer coating whichis applied to a surface and cured. The arrangement provides a tape witha filament enveloped in a wrapped portion of the tape where the filamentis pulled through the coating to effect a cutting action. However thisis not suitable for film of the above type for a number of reasons andhas never been used with film.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,469 (Mcginness) issued Mar. 10, 1981 to HughesAircraft provides a tape with an attached filament which is used to maskand cut a moisture proof coating applied to circuit boards where certainparts of the board must be masked to remain clear of the coating. Thetape is PTFE (Teflon) or PET (Mylar) and the filament is nylon. Thistape is used in very small straight pieces to cover edges of circuitboards and is not suitable for cutting film of the above type for anumber of reasons.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,005,665 (Saignier) issued Jun. 18, 1935 provides a papertape with an enclosed filament which is attached to boxes and used as atear strip for tearing open a tear line on the box. Again this tape isused in very small straight pieces and is not suitable for cutting filmof the above type for a number of reasons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the invention to provide a tape having alongitudinally extending filament.

According to the invention there is provided a tape comprising:

a tape body having a front surface, a rear surface, a first longitudinalside edge and a second longitudinal side edge;

the tape body having an adhesive on the rear surface for attachment toan object;

the front surface of the tape being free from adhesive and having arelease characteristic relative to pressure sensitive adhesive such thatthe pressure sensitive adhesive can be contacted onto the front surfaceof the tape and pulled away;

the tape body having a longitudinally extending filament attachedthereto;

wherein the filament is attached to the tape body at a position thereonspaced from both side edges of the tape to a distance which allowsbending of the tape in a first side to side direction by extension ofthe tape along the second longitudinal side edge and in a second side toside direction by extension of the tape along the first longitudinalside edge.

Preferably the filament and the tape body are arranged such that, withthe rear surface attached to the object, the filament when pulled tearsthrough either the entire thickness of the tape body or through a partonly of the thickness along the length of the tape body, rather thanpulling out from one side edge of the tape body.

Typically the adhesive has the characteristic that the tape body can bepulled from a surface of the object without leaving an adhesive residueand without damaging the surface.

Preferably the tape body carries a single filament.

Preferably the filament is carried in or on the adhesive on the rearsurface. In this case, the adhesive is arranged to hold the filament inplace on the tape during bending of the tape while the tape is appliedto the surface and while the filament is being pulled to effect thecutting of the film. In this case, the filament when carried on theadhesive has a coating material compatible with the adhesive forgenerating an improved adhesion between the filament and the adhesive.

In an alternative arrangement, the adhesive is applied onto thesubstrate over the filament to hold the filament against the surface ofthe substrate.

As the filament is spaced from the first and second side edges and thetape has a width arranged such that the filament tears through the tapealong the length of the tape, when pulled to cut the film, rather thanpulling from one side edge of the tape, the tearing of the tape leaves aportion of the tape along the first side edge underneath the edge of thefilm which is removed after the film is cut and the edge laid flat onthe surface. In this case, preferably the tape is colored to visuallydistinguish the portion of the tape from the film.

In some cases a primer is applied to the surface at least underneath thetape for increased attachment of the edge of the film to the surface andthe adhesive of the tape preferably has the characteristic that the tapecan be pulled from the primer on the surface of the object withoutleaving a residue of the adhesive and without damaging the primersurface.

Preferably the tape is formed of a plastics material allowing stretch ofthe tape greater than that of the filament. Preferably the tape isformed of a PVC. Preferably the pressure sensitive adhesive on the tapeis rubber based as this can provide the required properties of adhesionand subsequent removal of the tape.

Preferably the tape carries a release coating on the front surfacehaving a release characteristic relative to the pressure sensitiveadhesive on the film such that the pressure sensitive adhesive on thefilm can be contacted onto the front surface of the tape and pulled awayfor repositioning without dislodging the tape from the object.

In accordance with another feature the tape may comprise a laminate of afirst substrate carrying the adhesive on a rear surface thereof and asecond substrate carrying a release coating on a front surface thereofwith the filament located between the first and second substrates.

The tape can be used in a method which can include printing onto asecond opposed surface of the film a pattern to be wrapped onto theobject so as to apply the pattern around a part of the object and overthe panel.

The tape can be used in a method which can be used to apply varioustypes of film such as vinyl to vehicles. This can include large sheetsor panels which are used to wrap or can include stripe packages thatalso require cutting. Some vehicles have reflective vinyl striping downboth sides, so the stripe must be cut around the wheel wells, doorhandles and the like. Pinstripes on cars, trucks etc, also requirecutting and again this application would alleviate the use of a knife.All applications can be done using various types of vinyl, perhapsprinted or unprinted.

The tape may include a substrate with the adhesive applied to onesurface of the substrate, or the tape may comprise simply an adhesivematerial with the filament attached thereto or embedded therein.

The filament can be formed of any suitable material which has sufficientstrength to carry out the cutting action when pulled without breakingand a sufficient cutting action to effect cutting and not tearing thefilm. Metal wire is typically suitable. Other materials such as carbonfiber or Kevlar fiber can be used. MOPP (mono-axially orientedpolypropylene) is preferred.

Preferably the tape has a width less than 0.25 inches so that the barepiece or strip at the edge of the panel and at the edge of the adjacentportion is as narrow as possible.

The absence of adhesive on the front surface of the tape can be used toallow the film position to be adjusted on the panel and on the object sothat it is properly placed and located without creases or folds orbubbles while aligning printed images from different sheets as required.Thus the pressure sensitive adhesive on the film itself is used toattach the film to all locations and the release coating is of acharacter that the film can be pulled back and re-located when requiredwithout dislodging the tape from the object.

Films of this type are available with a release layer from supplierssuch as 3M and can be printed with the pattern at the place ofapplication using designs supplied by a customer.

The object is typically a vehicle or boat or other transportation deviceincluding automobiles, vans, buses and the like. In this case the panelis typically a door or trunk lid.

The area to be left uncovered can be any area of a surface of the objectsuch as a door handle, gas filler cap or the like. In this case thewhole surface of the vehicle or other object is to be covered butincludes such areas which cannot be covered without interfering with theoperation.

However other objects can be covered where the problem of doors or otherpanels and the problem of areas to be left uncovered is to be resolvedusing the above invention. The film typically wraps around at least aside of the vehicle where the hinged panel is a door and around a rearof the vehicle where a second hinged panel is provided and covered usingthe invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 show cross sectional views through four embodiments of tapefor use in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view through a surface of an object showingthe tape and film applied during a first step in the method.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view through the surface and the tape andfilm with the filament of the tape pulled to effect cutting of the film.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view through the surface and the film withthe film cut and the last portion of tape being removed.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view through the object at a junctionbetween a panel such as a door of the vehicle and the adjacent surfaceof the vehicle showing the tape and film applied for the method.

FIG. 9 is a front elevational view of a surface of the vehicle showingan area not to be covered by the film.

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view along the lines 10-10 of FIG. 9.

FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 show various views of a vehicle to be wrapped with aprinted film showing door and other panels to be opened and showingareas not to be covered by the film.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 11 is shown a vehicle 10 such as a panel van, including a sidepanel 11 including a door 13 and a rear panel 12 including hinged panel14 in the form of a pair of rear doors 14A and 14B.

It is intended that a film 15 should be wrapped around the vehicles tocover the sides 11 and the rear 12. The film can be supplied as a singlesheet but typically will be formed in smaller sheets which are buttededge to edge or slightly overlapping to cover as much of the vehicle asis required. Each sheet or the whole sheet is printed with a customselected pattern to be applied to the vehicle, such as a company logo orthe like as required by the vehicle user.

The vehicle includes a number of hinged panels such as doors, trunk lidand hood which can move from a closed position in which an edge 16 ofthe panel abuts an adjacent edge portion 17 of the vehicle.

The film 15 typically of vinyl is printed with pattern 20 on the frontsurface and carries an adhesive 19 on the rear surface. The pattern isarranged to be wrapped onto the vehicle so as to apply the patternaround a part of the vehicle and over the panel.

Such a film is available from 3M and is widely used for this purpose. Itis supplied with a release layer (not shown) which can be peeled away toexpose the pressure sensitive adhesive for attachment to the vehicle.

Typically as the sheet is supplied in flat form and the vehicle surfaceis extensively contoured, it is necessary to pull and stretch the filmto fit the surface. This typically includes, in extreme locations, theapplication of heat from a heat gun to the sheet 18 and generallyincludes the repeated steps of pulling the sheet, applying ittemporarily over the surface, removing the sheet for further pulling andreapplying the sheet until it is applied in a contour fit conditionagainst the vehicle with no bubbles.

In order to effect cutting of the film at the edges 16 and 17 there isprovided a tape 30 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 having a front surface 31, arear surface 32, a first longitudinal side edge 33 and a secondlongitudinal side edge 34. The tape has an adhesive layer 35 on the rearsurface 32 for attachment to the vehicle. The tape 30 is free fromadhesive on the front surface 31 which instead has a releasecharacteristic allowing it to release from or to repel adhesive such asthe adhesive 19 on the sheet 15. This release characteristic istypically provided by an actual coating 31A but can be provided by thecharacteristics of the substrate itself or by a co-extruded layer on thesubstrate. The release coating is not intended to be removed and is nottherefore a removable peel away sheet. The tape 30 carries a filament36.

The filament can be located along one longitudinal side edge 33 or 34but preferably is located along a line part way or mid way across thetape spaced from both the first and second longitudinal side edges 33,34.

In FIG. 1, the filament is simply applied onto the adhesive layer 35 andis attached thereto. Thus the filament can be simply attached to apre-exiting tape. Typically the thickness of the tape base or substrateand the adhesive is of the order of 0.002 to 0.005 inches and thediameter of the filament is of the order of 0.0025 to 0.010 inches sothat the filament stands up from the adhesive and is not buried orimplanted in the adhesive material. However the selection of theadhesive and the filament is such that it remains attached during thestep of the method up to the pulling of the tape to cut the film.

In FIG. 2, the adhesive is applied after the filament is laid on thetape substrate and thus covers over the filament providing an enhancedattachment where required.

In FIG. 3, the filament carries a pre-applied adhesive or primermaterial 36A which co-operates with the adhesive 35 providing anenhanced attachment where required.

In FIG. 4 and alternative construction is provided which includes twosubstrate layers 34A and 34B laminated together by a laminating adhesive34C with the filament 36 captured between the layers 34A and 34B andthus held in place. The layer 34A carries on its rear surface theadhesive 35 and the layer 34B carries on its front surface the releasecoat 31A. The laminating adhesive 34C has to be such that it allows thefilament to release from it. The filament could be treated to preventbecoming fixed to the adhesive if say the laminating adhesive was thecross linkable type. This is not an issue if pressure sensitive adhesiveis used for the laminating adhesive.

The tape has a width in the range 0.060 to 0.500 inches and ispreferably less than 0.25 inches.

The tape is extensible to a degree so as to allow bending to at leastone side by extension along the opposite side. Thus the tape can bend toeach side through any angle to take up a minimum inside radius ofcurvature of the order of 0.157 inches. This allows it to be bent orwrapped around elements on the vehicle such as door handles and otheritems previously described while the tape remains flat against thevehicle surface and attached to the vehicle surface by its layer ofadhesive.

As shown the filament is spaced from both side edges to allow bending inboth directions. As the filament is located in the middle as shown, thetape is symmetrical and will bend equally in each direction. However thefilament can be offset to one side or can be at one edge. In this casethe tape can be arranged so that it is applied easily with curvatureonly in one direction with the filament always on the inside of thecurve. With this same configuration, a reverse curve, with the filamenton the outside of the curve, can be done by making partial cuts atspaced positions at right angles to its length along the inside edge toallow the edge to be compressed to form the inside curve. Typically thefilament is less extendible than the tape since longitudinal extensionof the filament in the longitudinal direction is undesirable during thepulling action.

The adhesive thus acts to hold the filament in place on the tape duringbending of the tape while the tape is applied to the surface and whilethe filament is being pulled to effect the cutting of the film.

The tape is formed of a plastics or filmic material allowing stretch ofthe tape greater than that of the filament and preferably the tape isformed of a PVC which has been found to provide the best characteristicsof strength, co-operation with film adhesive, elongation and cleancutting of the film.

The filament is preferably formed of Dyneema® which is a synthetic fiberbased on ultra high molecular weight polyethylene and has been found toprovide the best characteristics of strength, resistance to elongationand flexibility. However other plastics materials such as monoaxiallyoriented polypropylene or natural fibers can be used including metalwire.

In use as shown in FIG. 8, a first length 30A of the tape is applied andadhesively attached to the panel such that the second longitudinal sideedge 34 is applied substantially along the edge 16 of the panel and thefirst longitudinal side edge 33 is spaced from the edge 16 of the panel.The filament 36 located midway between the edges is also thereforelocated at a position spaced from the edge 16 of the panel.

A second length 30B of the tape is applied and adhesively attached tothe panel at the edge 17 such that the second longitudinal side edge 34is applied substantially along the edge 17 of the panel and the firstlongitudinal side edge 33 is spaced from the edge 17 of the panel. Againthe filament 36 is located spaced from the edge 36.

The film 15 is attached by the adhesive 19 over the panel and thevehicle at the edge of the panel so as to wrap the vehicle and apply thepattern 20 to the vehicle with the film being attached to the vehicle bythe adhesive 19.

The cutting of the film cannot be carried out in advance of theapplication since the film stretches and moves as it is applied in orderto take up the contours of the vehicle. In many cases it is necessary toapply the film over certain areas and remove it from that area a numberof times in order to take up the required position and shape. In somecases it is necessary to apply heat to the film in order to achieve thenecessary stretch to match a particularly difficult contour of thevehicle. Thus in effect the film is tailored to the vehicle shape as itis applied making pre-cutting of edges impossible. The whole intentionis to apply the film in as large a sheet as possible so that it is inmost cases not suitable to cut up the sheet into small pieces forindividual application.

The attachment is completed using the skill of the user to properlyapply the film without creases and kinks, where necessary pulling thefilm back from the vehicle surface and the tape to adjust. Whenattachment is complete, the filament 36 of the first length from thetape is pulled at P1 (FIGS. 5 and 6) so as to cut the film at the firstlength of tape 30A. The filament 36 of the second length from the tapeis pulled so as to cut the film at the second length 30B.

The filament 36 is spaced from the first and second side edges 33, 34and the tape has a width arranged such that the filament tears throughthe tape 30 along the length of the tape, when pulled to cut the film,rather than pulling from one side edge 33, 34 of the tape. This is shownin FIGS. 5 and 6 where the filament 36 is pulled out through a tear 30Rin the center of the tape 30. This acts to cut the film at the locationdirectly over the tear in the tape as indicated at 18R

The tearing of the tape leaves a portion 30P of the tape along the firstside edge underneath the edge of the film. The tearing of the tapeleaves a portion 30Q of the tape along the first side edge underneaththe portion 18P of the film which is intended to be removed from the cutedge of the film.

The portion 18P of the film and the portion 30Q of the tape are simplyremoved as they are freely exposed beyond the cut edge 18R. The portion30P of the tape is removed as indicated at 68 after the film is cut bylifting the edge of the film as indicated at 69 and by carefully pullingthe portion away from the cut edge generally parallel to the surface ofthe vehicle. After the portion 30P is removed, the edge portion of thefilm at the cut edge 18R is laid flat on the surface of the vehicle. Inorder to assist in identifying and locating the portion 30P of the tapeto ensure that it is all removed, the tape is preferably brightlycolored to visually distinguish the portion of the tape from the film.

In some cases to assist in attaching the edge of the film to thesurface, a band of primer 70 is applied to the surface at leastunderneath the tape for increased attachment of the edge of the film tothe surface. The adhesive of the tape has the characteristic that thetape can be pulled from the primer 70 on the surface of the objectwithout leaving a residue of the adhesive and without damaging thesurface. It will be appreciated that the primer is designed to ensure anincrease in adhesive effect with the adhesive 19 of the film and hencethe adhesive 35 of the tape must be arranged such that it does notadhere more effectively to the primer in a manner which would preventsimple removal of the tape portions or would lead to adhesive residuebeing left on the vehicle surface at the primer.

The release coating 31 on the front surface of the tape 30 has a releasecharacteristic relative to the pressure sensitive adhesive 19 on thefilm such that the pressure sensitive adhesive on the film can becontacted onto the front surface of the tape and pulled away forrepositioning.

As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the vehicle also includes a series of areaswhich are to be uncovered when the film is applied since the presence ofthe film would interfere with the operation of the underlyingcomponents. This includes door handles 41 and 42, gas filler cap 43 andlight housings 44 and number plates 45. In FIGS. 9 and 10, the techniquefor exposing these elements is shown where a length 51 of the tape 30 isapplied to the surface 52 so as to surround the area 53 with onelongitudinal side edge of the length of the tape facing inwardly towardthe area 53 and with the second longitudinal side edge 33 facingoutwardly away from the area with the filament 35 of the length of thetape between those side edges as described hereinbefore and with ends 54and 55 of the length coming together. Generally the ends are not buttedtogether, but instead, for example where the area 53 is a gas cover, theends are overlapped so that there is enough filament available to starta cut by pulling on that filament. Alternatively for example where thearea 53 is an indented door handle, the ends can cross over into thearea 53 and a cut line can be started by cutting with a knife into anindentation of door handle to find one of those ends.

Again the film is applied over the surface 52 including the area 53 soas to wrap the vehicle and apply the pattern to the vehicle with thefilm being attached to the surface and the vehicle by the adhesive.

Again the filament 36 of the length 51 is pulled at P6 from the tape soas to cut the film around the area 53. The remaining portions of thelength 51 of the tape are removed from the surface taking with it theremaining portion of the film 53A over the area. The release coatingalso facilitates the smooth release the tape portion during this step.The tape substrate has to be of such strength that it does not breakduring removal. The edge of the film around the area is flattened downonto the surface after the portion of tape underneath the edge isremoved.

The release characteristic of the front side of the tape is critical tothe application. Not enough release and the wrap film adhesive willstick to the tape and pull the tape off the automobile duringrepositioning of the wrap film during normal fitting of the wrap film tothe automobile.

The release characteristic can be provided by the character of the tapeitself in which the base material can be such (Teflon for example) whichhas low adhesion with the wrap film adhesive. The surface of the basetape film can also be embossed with a pattern that limits the contactarea of the film's adhesive thus providing good release. Alternatively arelease coating (silicone etc.) can be added to the front surface of thetape to do the same thing. Most tapes are coated on the front surface sothat you can pull the tape off the roll. Electrical tape is unsuitablein that it has little or no release coating because it has to stick toitself when wrapped around a wire.

Plastic film based tape works better then paper based tape to produce aclean cut (like a razor) through the wrap film. Paper based tapesproduce jagged cuts noticeable to the eye and touch.

1. A tape comprising: a tape body of an extensible material having afront surface, a rear surface, a first longitudinal side edge and asecond longitudinal side edge; the tape body having a first substratelayer overlying and laminated by an adhesive to a second substrate layerso that the front surface of the tape body is defined by the frontsurface of the first substrate layer the rear surface of the tape bodyis defined by the rear surface of the second substrate layer; the tapebody having an adhesive on the rear surface for attachment to an object;the front surface of the tape being free from adhesive and having arelease characteristic relative to pressure sensitive adhesive such thatthe pressure sensitive adhesive can be contacted onto the front surfaceof the tape and pulled away; the tape body having a longitudinallyextending filament located between the first and second substratelayers; wherein the filament is located on the tape body at a positionthereon spaced from both side edges of the tape body; wherein thefilament is arranged at a distance from both side edges which allowsbending of the tape while the tape remains flat in a first side to sidedirection by extension of the tape along the second longitudinal sideedge relative to the filament and to the first longitudinal side edgeand in a second side to side direction by extension of the tape alongthe first longitudinal side edge relative to the filament and to thesecond longitudinal side edge; and wherein the filament and the tapebody are arranged such that, with the rear surface of the secondsubstrate layer attached to the object, the filament when pulled tearsthrough the first substrate layer of the tape body along the length ofthe tape body at its position on the tape body spaced from both sideedges so as to leave on one side of the position a first portion of thefirst substrate layer including the first side edge which remainsattached to the second substrate layer and so as to leave on an oppositeside of the position a second portion of the first substrate layerincluding the second side edge which remains attached to the secondsubstrate layer, rather than pulling out from one side edge of the tapebody.
 2. The tape according to claim 1 wherein the adhesive has thecharacteristic that the tape body can be pulled from a surface of theobject without leaving an adhesive residue and without damaging thesurface.
 3. The tape according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the tape body hasa width less than 0.25 inches.
 4. The tape according to any one ofclaims 1 to 3 wherein the filament is less extendible than the tapebody.
 5. The tape according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein theadhesive is arranged to hold the filament in place on the tape bodyduring bending of the tape while the tape is applied to the surface andwhile the filament is being pulled to tear through the tape body.
 6. Thetape according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the tape body iscolored.
 7. The tape according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein thetape body carries a single filament.
 8. A tape comprising: a tape bodyof an extensible material having a front surface, a rear surface, afirst longitudinal side edge and a second longitudinal side edge; thetape body having an adhesive on the rear surface for attachment to anobject; the front surface of the tape being free from adhesive andhaving a release characteristic relative to pressure sensitive adhesivesuch that the pressure sensitive adhesive can be contacted onto thefront surface of the tape and pulled away; the tape body having alongitudinally extending filament attached thereto so as to be carriedin or on the adhesive on the rear surface; wherein the filament isattached to the tape body at a position thereon spaced from both sideedges of the tape; wherein the filament is arranged at to a distancefrom both side edges which allows bending of the tape while the taperemains flat in a first side to side direction by extension of the tapealong the second longitudinal side edge relative to the filament and tothe first longitudinal side edge and in a second side to side directionby extension of the tape along the first longitudinal side edge relativeto the filament and to the second longitudinal side edge; and whereinthe filament and the tape body are arranged such that, with the rearsurface attached to the object, the filament when pulled tears throughthe tape body along the length of the tape body at its position on thetape body spaced from both side edges so as to leave on one side of theposition a first portion of the tape body including the first side edgeand so as to leave on an opposite side of the position a second portionof the tape body including the second side edge, rather than pulling outfrom one side edge of the tape body.
 9. The tape according to claim 8wherein the adhesive has the characteristic that the tape body can bepulled from a surface of the object without leaving an adhesive residueand without damaging the surface.
 10. The tape according to claim 8wherein the tape body has a width less than 0.25 inches.
 11. The tapeaccording to claim 8 wherein the filament is less extendible than thetape body.
 12. The tape according to claim 8 wherein the adhesive isarranged to hold the filament in place on the tape body during bendingof the tape while the tape is applied to the surface and while thefilament is being pulled to tear through the tape body.
 13. The tapeaccording to claim 8 wherein the filament is carried on the adhesive andthe filament carries a coating material compatible with the adhesive forgenerating an improved adhesion between the filament and the adhesive.14. The tape according to claim 8 wherein the adhesive lies on the tapebody over the filament to hold the filament against the rear surface ofthe tape body.
 15. The tape according to claim 8 wherein the tape bodyconsists of a single layer.
 16. The tape according to claim 8 whereinthe tape body is colored.
 17. The tape according to claim 8 wherein thetape body carries a single filament.